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by PAM
I have been feeling really frustrated to have kept missing the UEFA Champions League matches this season. In fact, my last post here on the Champions League was published on August 2013! It's that bad.
I know that there are trade-offs in the choices we make in our lives, but two years of not being able to watch a full match in the Champions League has been gnawing on my sanity! Too much work... just too-too much! It used to be worth it... but, without time to refresh my mind by indulging my (justified) hunger for great fun, adrenaline rush and tactical thinking through a healthy dose of the 'beautiful game' is 'killing me'... seriously! OK, perhaps following the Spanish La Liga and the English Premier League, too, is a luxury, considering the choice I made two-and-a-half years ago... but missing the Champions League for two years?? OK, that's like sacrilege for a football fan!
Football fan or not, I think we all deserve some time to have a little fun - even if only for health and sanity's sake.
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Putting my foot down... gotta watch the final!
Sooo, before losing it, I put my foot down and decided to mark my calendar and cancel anything else that coincided with the Champions League final in Berlin... especially that the final is between my favorite Club, FC Barcelona (o, yeah!), and Juventus FC! As it turned out, I didn't have to cancel anything because the match airs live via cable on a Sunday at 2:30 a.m., Manila time. So, I had to sleep early Saturday night to wake up in time for the game. And, oh, boy! What a treat it was!
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| What a reunion between Barça... and I! :) |
Champions League followers were expecting the final match to be a battle of midfields, Juve's was led by the veteran, Andrea Pirlo, and Barça's was led by the brilliant Andres Iniesta. Everyone was also picturing a duel between Barça's "magician", Lionel Messi, and the Italian side's seasoned goal keeper, Gianluigi "Gigi" Buffon, in front of the Italian Serie A champs' goal. Naturally, a swarm of defenders were about Messi early on; and naturally, Lucho Enrique and Don Andres expected this, and so did Neymar Jr., who pressed the Juve defense early on. It was a battle of midfield tactics alright. In fact, duirng the first four minutes or so of the match, the quick-witted Don Andres Iniesta orchestrated the attack for Barça, getting his men touch the ball, once, twice on the turf as they gather towards the Juve goal. Don Andres found a little opening, slipped the ball through to Ivan Rakitić, who acted quickly and decisively, and sent the ball past the surprised Buffon (and he's rarely surprised!) to hit the back of the net! The Catalan side took the driver seat, 1-0, merely four minutes into the match! And the sprinting and tactical battle intensified. Whew, beautiful!
The rest of the first half was a great duel of wills between the two sides... Barça pressing to provide a cushion to their lead, Juve was looking to equalize while resisting the advances of the opposite side. Their horns were locked tightly, but I gotta say that the great tactician, Don Andres, and the South American demolition trio, Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, with the do-or-die hustle from Dani Alves, kept Juve mum, as they pressed relentlessly. Barça's attack crew kept the ball with the Catalans, not giving the Juve attackers, led by Carlos Tevez, much chance to create damage.
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Finishing the task
One would think that in the second half, Barça would be running to finish the match with another goal, but it was Juve's Alvaro Morata who picked up the remains of a saved attempt for a goal by Tevez, about ten minutes into the second half, to equalize. That scattered the Catalan men for a while, and the Barça defense was the first to appear like they were feeling the heat. It did look like Juve was going for an all-out attack of the FCB goal manned by the 23-year old German keeper, Marc-André Ter Stergen. However,
the young goal keeper, calm and serene in front of the goal, proved to be up to the task - very impressive! I have to say that Barça's defense, which was usually suspect when things go wrong, proved to be equal to the task as well... well, after recovering from their "initial shock" caused by the Morata goal anyway. Call it the Don Iniesta calming leadership effect... that man has that effect on his team. He gets them back on attacking track - fast!
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| Neymar, securing the win with a third goal for FCB. |
The formidable South American attacking trio in front of the Barcelona crew kept pressing... they launched many attacks that would've shattered to pieces a goal keeper made of less finer stuff than Gigi Buffon was. At some point though, something had to give. In one of the blistering attempts by Messi to get FCB in front again, Buffon saved, but spilled the ball, which was apparently went too weighty after being walloped by Messi's left foot. The hungry Suarez, without hesitation, sprinted to send the loose ball to the back of the net as Buffon was still sprawled on the turf recovering from Messi's assault, 2-1. Such is the lethality of Barça's attack line. Just as quickly as he scored though, Suarez picked up a yellow card as soon as the game re-started after Barça's celebration of his goal! :) Oh, boy! At least, the yellow card did not involve biting of someone's ear. ;)
The lead could have been stretched by Neymar to 3-1 about the 70th minute or so, but his header was ruled out as the ball accidentally touched the back of his right hand before flying to the goal. That little touch couldn't have changed the trajectory of the ball... but it was disallowed anyway, and it was fair enough. Juve then continued to press for opportunity to equalize, as Barça's South American attack trio did the same relentlessly, propelled by the midfield, which was led by the great Xavi Hernandez in the last 15 minutes or so of the match. After a few rolling around by Suarez, whose wailing can be a bit embarrasing and/or irritating at times, Lucho decided to pull him out, and Pedro Rodriguez came on. During the last minute of the five-minute stoppage time, Messi, Pedro and Neymar ran for a final attempt for a goal, which sent my heart all a-thump-thumping with crazy excitement! And Neymar kicked the last goal in with such force uncaring about any sort of destruction that such force may cause - no chance for even the likes of Buffon to stop - claiming the 2015 Champions League trophy for good... and FCB's second treble! And, into the history books they went! Yowza!
Awesomeness? Ah, well... no other way to describe it! I was glad that, at least, I watched the final - live! If only for that, I resolve to avoid ranting (here) for the next... uhm, five (working) days, maybe? :)
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P.S. Footie Beautie
I have to say, I love this Barça - Lucho Enrique's Barça, that is. Their movement as a Team is very fluid. They still play the "possession football" that was central in Pep Guardiola's Barça, and they still work wonderfully as a Team as in the "Pep era", but there's a bigger component of "no-excuse attack" that makes this current ensemble very exciting to watch. There is a hint of "savagery" in their hunger to get those goals coming... there is a flavor of unabashed display of enjoyment as they make those goals after a relentless pursuit. There is raw desire for the best result possible... it's honest, it's compelling, it makes one wants to celebrate with them, it's great!
Pep's Barça was all about tantalizing movement. They moved beautifully and gracefully in a well-timed approach to the goal that they were just breathtaking to watch. They seemed to be playing football on their own, without opponents! The fantastic goals seemed like mere "icing on the cake", and the trophies are more of a payment to the display of beauty rather than a prize for winning the competition. Lucho's Barça has more 'muscle', and they have no qualms about displaying it, and they do so as beautifully as possible, too. They are not only beautiful to watch, they produce nail-biting excitement in their devil-may-care attacks, but in a well orchestrated moves that involve the whole Team nevertheless! They keep you on the edge of your seat, they make their spectators gush adrenaline, and they challenge their opponents to match their pace. Pep's 'delicately beautiful men' have been transformed to Lucho's 'exciting men's men'! It felt different to watch this new Barça, and I love it!
And, I love all the show of love among the 'beautiful men' of this 'beautiful game'... all the kissing and hugging without any hint of self-consciousness, all the good cheers after the match that show true sportsmanship, are just fantastic to watch. I missed seeing all this for the longest time... it has been killing me! But, I got good dose of my 'wonder drug' from the Berlin final of the Champions League. Life is good! It is, ya know! :)
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P.S. Footie Beautie
I have to say, I love this Barça - Lucho Enrique's Barça, that is. Their movement as a Team is very fluid. They still play the "possession football" that was central in Pep Guardiola's Barça, and they still work wonderfully as a Team as in the "Pep era", but there's a bigger component of "no-excuse attack" that makes this current ensemble very exciting to watch. There is a hint of "savagery" in their hunger to get those goals coming... there is a flavor of unabashed display of enjoyment as they make those goals after a relentless pursuit. There is raw desire for the best result possible... it's honest, it's compelling, it makes one wants to celebrate with them, it's great!
Pep's Barça was all about tantalizing movement. They moved beautifully and gracefully in a well-timed approach to the goal that they were just breathtaking to watch. They seemed to be playing football on their own, without opponents! The fantastic goals seemed like mere "icing on the cake", and the trophies are more of a payment to the display of beauty rather than a prize for winning the competition. Lucho's Barça has more 'muscle', and they have no qualms about displaying it, and they do so as beautifully as possible, too. They are not only beautiful to watch, they produce nail-biting excitement in their devil-may-care attacks, but in a well orchestrated moves that involve the whole Team nevertheless! They keep you on the edge of your seat, they make their spectators gush adrenaline, and they challenge their opponents to match their pace. Pep's 'delicately beautiful men' have been transformed to Lucho's 'exciting men's men'! It felt different to watch this new Barça, and I love it!
And, I love all the show of love among the 'beautiful men' of this 'beautiful game'... all the kissing and hugging without any hint of self-consciousness, all the good cheers after the match that show true sportsmanship, are just fantastic to watch. I missed seeing all this for the longest time... it has been killing me! But, I got good dose of my 'wonder drug' from the Berlin final of the Champions League. Life is good! It is, ya know! :)
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Photo credit: I took all the photos in the collage from the Balls Channel live feed via Skycable (Channel 34), except the center photo, which was obtained from the UEFA Champions League's twitter account - thanks.
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